LOT Flight 5055 - Passengers and Crew

Passengers and Crew

The Captain was Zygmunt Pawlaczyk, 59, with 19745 hours in the air (5542 on Ilyushin-62s, and a captain from 11 May 1978). The first officer was Leopold Karcher, the flight engineer was Wojciech Kłossek, flight navigator was Lesław Łykowski, radio operator was Leszek Bogdan and Ryszard Chmielewski an instructor of flight engineers on a routine observation of the progress of Wojciech Kłossek. By a twist of fate, Chmielewski was scheduled as a flight engineer on LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 seven years earlier, but he switched shifts with his colleague.

The purser was Maria Berger-Sanderska; other flight attendants were: Hanna Chęcińska (who was in the technical cabin-bay, next to the engines, and probably — after decompression — lost consciousness and burned in the fire or was sucked out of the plane; her body was never found despite extensive search), Małgorzata Ostrowska, Beata Płonka and Jolanta Potyra.

Of the passengers, 155 were from Poland, while the other 17 were from the United States.